And Dillon, Grace’s brother’s best friend, who stood her up on the night of her senior prom and has regretted it ever since. Dillon rents Grace’s guest house for the summer and hopes to make up for lost time and past hurts—but first, he’ll have to convince Grace that she’s worth loving…

Liz Flaherty has written a love story with so much more than love. It’s not all first dates and kisses and swoons. There’s a past between Dillon and Grace that makes the love story deeper. But the story around the story is what really got me in this book.

As explained in the second paragraph of the summary above, there’s so much going on in Grace’s life, love is really the last thing she has time for. This is one of the most “real” fictional love tales I’ve read. Through the tough summer that Grace is going through, she needs someone there, although she doesn’t realize it. Luckily, Dillon knows just what Grace needs and is just in the back yard, waiting to swoop in and be the knight in shining armor.  And when everything crashes down around Grace, he’s there, whether she wants him there or not.

This book came to me right when I needed it. I was reading this book when my uncle passed away, from cancer. I felt like I could really relate to the characters, dealing with Promise fade. It’s funny how books come to you. I needed this book when I was reading it. It helped me put things into perspective and it helped me cope with what I was going through. I may have cried a little, or a lot, but it was an outlet that I needed. Isn’t it funny how a piece of fiction can feel so real and be the thing that helps you the most in your times of need.

I give One More Summer 5 bookmarks.

ISBN: 9781426893018
Published: January 2, 2012
Kari got this book from NetGalley

From Goodreads.com
The sausage maker’s youngest daughter is heading for the fight of her battle-scarred life. It’s the era of the counterculture and Vietnam. But twenty-four-year-old Kip Czermanksi is nowhere near her home in California. She’s in a jail cell in her hometown in Wisconsin awaiting a court appearance in the mysterious death of her ex-lover, who happened to be her brother-in-law. Given her father is the small town’s leading citizen; Kip isn’t overly worried, at first. But the personal grudge the DA holds for all the Czermanskis is about to find a foil Kip. What follows is a wild ride through Kip’s present predicament and her past. She’ll come to regret leaving her life in LA, regardless of the good reason for which she returned, when family dynamics and sibling rivalries, magnified by her counterculture attitudes and feminist beliefs, lay Kip’s life bare before the courtroom. Distrusting her legal team, her rebellious history well known, things both personal and legal spiral out-of-control. It doesn’t look good for Kip Czermanski.

I got this book from NetGalley after being contacted by JKS Communications. Something about the description of this book, and the deceit of family it insinuated intrigued me. And boy did I get more than I bargained for.

This book is told through Kip, beginning with her arraignment for the murder of her brother-in-law and continuing throughout her trial process as she tries to make everyone see she did not kill her one-time lover. By Kip reminiscing and sharing every detail she can think of with her lawyers, we learn Kip’s past from the time she was a little girl until today, how se got where she is and what happened in her family that made her move across the country to be as far away as possible. And through that tale, you learn that Kip is not like most women in her time. She’s not the housewife who lives to take care of her family. She’s self sufficient, a feminist and a woman who will stand up for anything she believes in. I immediately felt for Kit and had an inkling that she wasn’t the monster that she was portrayed to be. So what she has a bit of a record? She was in college during a time of anti-war protests and bra burnings. But no matter what you believe, the truth comes out it in the end. Not only does the truth come out about the murder, but about more than this family is ever willing to share with the public.

I loved the mystery in this book and it didn’t need all the bells and whistles to make it a page turner. Big news in a small town. The atmosphere of the courtroom, the small town, it moved me. And although it’s not set in a time that I am completely removed from, I felt like I time travelled to get to this place, with this family and through this ordeal.

The thing that I can’t stop thinking about with this book is the family dynamic. Mrs. Czermasnski died just three years after having her youngest daughter Kip. Kip is the fourth of four girls. There’s Sarah and Sybel, Samantha and then little Kip. Kip was always the outcast, always acting out. She didn’t have a mother, Sarah left for the calling to be a nun, so her just-turned-teenager sister Sybel took over that role. Her father was working to build an empire, leaving children raising children. I can’t even imagine. I probably would have acted out too. I would feel cheated of my childhood if I wouldn’t have been able to spend it with my mom. The girls grew up going to Catholic schools and being in the spotlight as celebrities, or as close to it as you can be in the sausage industry, in a very small town. The thing that I can relate with is that this family looked like the perfect family from the outside. We all know and have seen these families. We all have secrets and we all have things that go on behind closed doors. But for the Czermanski’s, closed doors turned out to be deadly. The secrets and pain this family has are so deep and dark that they literally lead to murder. And it’s that murder that unravels this family and shows that what seems like a happy family may just be the shell of it.

But even with the secrets and anger, the pride that this family holds is amazing. Sybel is a character that I really didn’t like from the get-go. Once I heard the family’s story, I warmed up a little to her, but in the end, she is still frigid. But the one thing about Sybel is she is strong. From the age of 13, she stepped up and took care of her family. She knew they were in the eye of the public and she did her best to keep that view as civil and respectable as possible. She gained my respect for that. Who knows if I was in her shoes if I would be able to do it and keep such a demeanor as she did. The pride she felt for being a Czermanski was remarkable. She had a name to live up to, and no matter what was thrown at her, she would do nothing to spoil that name.

I have had a couple of deaths in my family in the past few months and the thing about death is, at least in my family, it brings you closer. Two of my uncles passed, on different sides of my family, and while the pain can’t be described, the bond that my families have held us together and helped get through. Yes, there are always rough spots and rough patches, but this book made me feel lucky for what I have, who I have and how well, through all the craziness, we all get along.

 It’s funny how books come to us when we need them most. In the past few months, I have read several books where death played major roles and where families needed each other to get through. But I’ve also read several books on the pride of a family name. I will be posting on this in the near future, so I don’t want to get into it too much, but this is a book that is so much more than a murder mystery. It’s thought provoking and puts perspective into what is really important in life and the roles that we play in not only our life, but the live around us.

I give The Sausage Maker’s Daughters 5 bookmarks. And stay tuned for an interview with AGS Johnson where hopefully she gives us a peak as to where the inspiration for such a heart grabbing story came from…plus I’ll share a little about her next book.

ISBN: 978-0984734108
Released: February 7, 2012
Author Website
Kari read this book for review from NetGalley and JKS Communications

Mack’s sister, Carolyn, is now twenty-six, a law school graduate, and has just finished her clerkship for a civil court judge in Manhattan. She has endured two family tragedies, yet she realizes that she will never be able to have closure and get on with her life until she finds her brother. She resolves to discover what happened to Mack and why he has found it necessary to hide from them. So this year when Mack makes his annual Mother’s Day call, Carolyn interrupts to announce her intention to track him down, no matter what it takes. The next morning after Mass, her uncle, Monsignor Devon MacKenzie, receives a scrawled message left in the collection basket: “Uncle Devon, tell Carolyn she must not look for me.”

Mack’s cryptic warning does nothing to deter his sister from taking up the search, despite the angry reaction of her mother, Olivia, and the polite disapproval of Elliott Wallace, Carolyn’s honorary uncle, who is clearly in love with Olivia.

Carolyn’s pursuit of the truth about Mack’s disappearance swiftly plunges her into a world of unexpected danger and unanswered questions. What is the secret that Gus and Lil Kramer, the superintendents of the building in which Mack was living, have to hide? What do Mack’s old roommates, the charismatic club owner Nick DeMarco and the cold and wealthy real estate tycoon Bruce Galbraith, know about Mack’s disappearance? Is Nick connected to the disappearance of Leesey Andrews, who had last been seen in his trendy club? Can the police possibly believe that Mack is not only alive, but a serial killer, a shadowy predator of young women? Was Mack also guilty of the brutal murder of his drama teacher and the theft of his taped sessions with her?

Carolyn’s passionate search for the truth about her brother — and for her brother himself — leads her into a deadly confrontation with someone close to her whose secret he cannot allow her to reveal.

This is one of many Mary Higgins Clark books that have recently filled my obsession to solve murder mysteries, start by listening to a Mary Higgins Clark book.

This, like every other Mary Higgins Clark book I have read, kept me guessing about the characters from the time the book started until the book ended. Who is the killer? Why? Who is being used as the pawn to look like the killer, but really isn’t? The more I get to know Higgins Clark as an author, because I feel like we are friends because I keep listening to her books, the more I am able to figure out her style, at least a little. In this book, I was able to figure out who the muscle was behind the crimes, but did not figure out who this person was working with. I was also able to figure out the pawn in the case, which made it easier to eliminate a few of the suspects. I should have been Nancy Drew!

While I love listening to these audio books and working my mind a little more than just listening to music on my way to and from work, I think there is a disadvantage to listening to Mary Higgins Clark’s books rather than handling them and reading them. She uses several characters in her books. When I hold a book, and am not driving while listening/reading, I can jot down notes of who the main players are in the book. While driving, that is obviously not an option. So, I find myself constantly trying to remember characters names in these books and get so caught up in the who’s who, that I feel like I miss major plot points because I can’t remember where they fit in. I’m going to have to try to figure out a system to file away these names so it doesn’t take me 3/4 the way through the book to know who the players are.

This book was a little different from the other Higgins Clark books I have read. The rest have all had positive endings. This one has a semi-positive ending that left me a little empty hearted. There was a twist in the book, more than the murder and search that I wasn’t expecting. That’s what happens when you close your mind a little while reading. Keep an open mind and you woun’t be blindsided. I know I can say that, but I can’t guarantee I’ll follow along with those words. I get a little too caught up in the books for that.

I didn’t love this book as much as the other books by Mary Higgins Clark that I have listened to, but I didn’t hate it. I wasn’t in love with the characters, although there were a couple I liked. I got angry with some of the characters and it kind of turned me off to the book. I later found out there was a reason for what the characters did, but my mini hatred had already started to grow and I just couldn’t stop it.

I give Where Are You Now? 3 bookmarks.

ISBN: 978-1416566380
Released: April 2008
Author Website
Kari got this audio book from the library

Though wary of working in the killer’s midst, Deva continues decorating the unit for the new owner. When she stumbles upon clues that might help crack the case, she can’t resist doing a little digging of her own, despite Rossi’s orders to quit meddling. Now, she’s juggling the investigation, her career and sexy neighbor Simon Yaeger, who seems interested in more than her etchings.

Deva can’t help but be flattered by all the male attention—that is, until she realizes the killer has designs on her, too…

There are many things that determine how I judge a book including characters, emotion, writing, overall design, creativity within the novel…those all make up pieces of my book blogging puzzle.

From the beginning of this book, I fell in love with several characters. Deva is mourning the death of her husband and moved to Florida to get as far away from her previous life as possible. She has a knack for design and uses it to help her forget. Don’t we all do that from time to time? Get so into our work or a hobby that it helps us cope with hard feelings? But there are several characters in Deva’s life that help her feel a breath of fresh air. Although she is not there long, Treasure is a ray of trasnvestite hope, along with her former lover. Then there are multiple men in this book who are swoon-worthy, from the soon-to-be divorced upstairs neighbor to the Hawaiin shirt wearing investigator.

The mystery in this book kept me turning the pages. I also have a hunch at some point as to who the killer is in books like these, but most of the time, the real suspect is merely a glimmer that doesn’t last long. That happened here. I thought I knew, then clues turned me in a different direction, but the I was back to where I started. The motive for the murder is what held me up. Definitely not what I thought it was going to be. Dang motives, tripping up my detective game.

This book was filled with emotion. The pain that Deva has for the loss of her husband is heart breaking. Any married woman, or any woman in love can relate with how they would feel in this scenario. What would I do in this situation? Where would I go? Would I be able to work? Although this book was a murder mystery, with drama and suspense, it also was thought provoking. And there were also the nuggets of funny, that showed hope and brought out a part of Deva you hoped she wouldn’t lose in all her sadness.

Good news, I felt like I grew close to Deva and want to see her grow and move forward, and also want to see which of her many suitors she chooses as her next love interest, and I think I’m going to have the chance to do that. On Jean Harrington’s website, it says this is the first in a series. Woo!

I give Designed for Death 4 bookmarks.

ISBN: 9781426892967
Released: January , 2012
Author Website
Kari got this book from NetGalley

One by one, Billings Girls go missing from campus.

The entire community bands together to find the lost girls, hoping they are still alive. Reed can’t believe tragedy has struck Easton again, and she begins to wonder if the Billings Girls are cursed. But when the first body shows up containing a message just for her, she fears her friends are worse than cursed: they’re doomed.

The penultimate book in the suspenseful Private series!

I actually read this book a couple of months ago when I was in a kick about cleaning off my bookshelf. I forgot that I read the book and didn’t notice until I saw it on my shelf the other day that I did, in fact, read it and I hadn’t posted a review.

I also thought this was the last book in the series and didn’t know until I was looking at the summary that there was one more. I was kind of content with this being  the last book. I don’t know if I am growing out of it or if I just have a stale taste in my mouth where the series has gone. I will read the final book, because I want to give the series another shot, but at one time I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next book and now, I’m ready to move on. When the series started getting witchy, I started losing interest. At one time it was so believable and I could imagine myself on Easton’s campus, along with the Billing’s Girls. But now I feel like an outsider.

Based on the summary of this book, I was hoping the whole spell portion may be over. Yes, the word “cursed” is used, but from the summary, I was excited. I thought Brian was getting back to the basics. I was wrong. Spells are still involved in this book and some of the girls start taking this whole witch thing seriously. I think it could have definitely held it’s own without it.

If you haven’t gotten this far in the series, I don’t want to discourage you from finishing it and I plan to get my hands on the final book in the series and round it out, with high hopes that it ends on a high note.

I do commend Brian for coming up with 14 different story lines for the books to follow. I think it’s awesome that you can develop your characters and add and subtract characters and make readers still want to stick around. I just wish she would have stayed with the believable plots that made me fall in love.

With that said, I give Ominous 2 bookmarks and have my fingers crossed that I can connect with the final book in the series and end the series loving it as much as I did when I first started. Since the new Billings House will be built, maybe my hopes will be answered. End it where it all began.

ISBN:
Released:
Author Website
Kari bought this book